About

Hello!

I started making cards while at a cropfest raising money for cancer around 11 years or so ago.  Nothing fancy.  I just took a seat at a table where an instructor had done most of the work for you, trusting in your abilities to add some glue/tape and ink and not mess up her workspace.

I didn't know what to do with stamps but I liked them and had no clue with to do with the different kinds of ink so I kept them in a drawer for a year before I able to learn the differences between pigment vs dye.

I made a card for my father, and he loved it.  It was probably horrible, but like any parent when given something their child makes, he made it seem like the best card he had ever been given.  

Each year when I went to the cancer crop I would ask my co-workers for donations to sponsor me, and with each donation they got a card.  So it gave me a purpose of creating something for them.  My sister would have me make some for her and her family members and soon I was making them for friends and family for special occasions (that they didn't ask for, but kindly accepted).  But I never sold them.  

That was under "Duffy's Daughter," a name that friends of my father's would call me by.  After a long journey of self discovery, I realized that I wanted to change that identity and to have this be something of my own.  And on August 9th, 2021, Paper Hugs was born.

It was easy to  make them for family or friends, they'll lie and say they like it, even if they don't.  But for the longest time I was afraid to put them out there for fear that they wouldn't be good enough.  Then a friend asked me why.  My answer was simple, "They are not always perfect. I make mistakes."

His reply was, "That's what makes them perfect.  You're human sitting down and creating these with your own hands, not a machine (I'm going to be honest, I don't recall word for word what he said, but it went along those lines)."

And now here we are. My happy place is my yellow craft room.  No matter what kind of day I could be having, I walk in there and my troubles bounce off the entrance way.  

Thank you for taking the time to visit my site. It's very much appreciated.

Cindy